Tag: Joseph Muscat

Categories
Politics

Summer siestas

It’s sizzling hot (apparently). August’s heat approaches with the certainty of a sunrise and the last events of the political season are being played out. Let’s not fool ourselves. There is going to be a break – a pause – as the politicians scramble to the safety of the seaside… or like mercenaries they will find some earthly form of hell where to regroup. In the meantime though the last notes of this particular act are being played out.

As I blogged earlier today, the Nationalist party is keen to have the last word on all things leak and Mistra. It’s not about Mistra they will tell you but about Joseph Muscat being a blabberer – a peċluq – as we would have it in the vernacular. The Labour party rightly retorts by focusing on a totally different point and reminding “GonziPN” that Dr Sant was right about the geezer who favours Earl Grey. That geezer marched off for his summer holidays in a huff having notified the PN that he is no longer one of their own (like they needed it in writing) and having informed the Speaker of the House that he is henceforth to be considered as an Independent. His cohabitation having been clarified he will now apparently be off and wed so, unless he takes the matter of wedlock lightly, that should keep him out of the news for a while.

The grumbling has started. It’s become a catchphrase of sorts now. “Oh how they have bored us.”, “Enough already”, “Why don’t they just resign and call an election”… and more of the same. You cannot really blame the electorate for having sussed out that most of these theatricals are to nobody’s benefit and that they can be more boring than spending an evening watching Musumeci Robert put up aphorism after aphorism on Facebook. Then again I have the niggling feeling that this is the usual thinking “sal-ponta ta’ l-imnieħer” as the vernacular would also put it.

Why? Because while it has become stylish to feign a lack of interest and to sing-a-long to the “bored with politics” and the “politicos” (a new word that, that has entered the collective vocab) few seem to understand what actually lies behind the corner. While everybody claims to no longer be intrigued by the squeakings of officials and spinmasters the truth is that their urge to “call an election” and get it over and done with turns out to be more of an emotional impulse than a thought out reflection.

And the reason is simple. When the curtain finally falls and the electoral campaign is in full swing we should be finally seeing two parties displaying their wares and what they have to offer in terms of governance for the new season. Mr Voter would be choosing from among these wares and therefore should be expecting to see a bit more than slogans and mud. Are the parties ready for that?

I have a strong feeling that the timing of PN strategy until now points clearly to a summer of preparation for an election. As I type slogans are being hatched (or copied from French campaigns), manifestos are being hurriedly beefed up and a strategy based on what the party can offer (and what new guarantees it can promise) is probably being brewed. The PN elected in 2008 is split and a good target for derisory facebook statuses or smartass expressions of surprise. The PN2012 team will be making damn sure that the new team has none of that.

And Labour? Well, once Muscat has recovered from the spumante he will return to the island to find that his provision of ammo is running dry. He has spent the last nine months honeymooning with the man who he now calls the second Prime Minister and has concentrated exclusively on the “iggranfat mal-poter” theorem. Once the relevance of that whole issue is officially declared passé, Muscat will find that he has very little time to reinvent a machine that he has groomed to produce more of the same old comatose opposition by default. It may be too late.

Four to five  weeks. That’s approximately how much time the parties have to get it together and regroup. I’m betting that the PN will attempt to use the summer pause for a Janus effect. One face looking back and another decisively forward. Will Labour manage to do anything other than the obvious and the predictable?

More importantly will the electorate prove to be a sucker for cosmetics one more time?

Categories
Politics

Toroq fil-baħar

Il-fekruna għażlet il-Ġnejna biex tħalli erba’ bajdiet fir-ramel qabel lebbtet lejn il-baħar frisk u nadif ta’ l-ewwel jiem tas-sajf. Ma naħsibx li jeżistu fuljetti informattivi li jitqassmu fost il-fawna Mediterranja li jgħarrfu lil klijenti prospettivi dwar l-aħjar post fejn titfa’ bajdtek u tħalli ‘l uliedek jittantaw xortihom. Is-sinjura Fekruna ma tistax tistħajjilha f’xi kont ta’ Lewis Carroll tikkonsulta l-brochures splendidi tal-Malta Tourist Association iħeġġu l-koppji fkieren żgħar jiġu bi ħġarrhom jrabbu familja (jew mill-inqas iħalluha tfaqqas) ġewwa l-gżira ta’Pawlu.

Għażlet il-gżira ta’ Franco u ta’ Richard minn jedda il-fekruna. Forsi kien att ta’ disperazzjoni – kif iktar tispjega fatt li kien ilu ma’ jseħħ mis-sittinijiet? Il-fkieren kienu donnhom ddikkjaraw bojkott tal-gżira meta raw n-nies jindifnu fil-miżbla. “Le xbin tlaqna lejn l-Ellespontu u l-gżejjer tagħha hawn m’hawnx ħlief oqbra imbajda u qniepen.” Għadda ż-żmien u l-fekruna donnha tittanta xortiha. Ilna minn żmien Rio ’92 ma nduqu soppa tal-fkieren. Issa illegali. Għaldaqshekk kolloxsew. M’hemmx ċans li t-tfal tagħha jispiċċaw f’xi bouillabaisse post-modern f’xi ristorant mibni fuq il-foreshore kifsuppost.

Kienet taf forsi bil-programmi estensivi ta’ Joseph? Saret taf li ħadd ma hu se jitħalla joqgħod lura f’Malta progressiva? Kienux is-sireni progressivi li saħħruha bil-kant ta’ Tagħlim, Taħriġ u Xogħol? Ifhem, l-Ellespontu kien ilu ma jbandal hekk minn żmien Xerxes. Għadhom sa’ llum jiddu f-widnejn il-fkieren il-ħoss tal-frosta inkazzata u rrabbjata tfaqqa’ fuq wiċċ il-baħar. Illum hemm problemi oħra. Flus ma hemmx. Futur ikreh. Aħjar immorru Malta fejn minkejja kull sforz tal-iżolani li jitfgħu il-knaten fuq saqajhom l-affarijiet jidhru mexjin sew.

Imma żgur sinjura fekruna? Tifhimnix ħażin. Wara kollox ħaqqek grazzi talli għażilt gżiritna biex tiżra t-tama u l-ħajja. Imma din mhux gżira ta’ ward u żahar. Ilna nitfgħu knaten fuq saqajna. Fil-parlament mhux talli ma kibrux fjuri imma issa intlejna kakti u tingiż. Mhux dik l-agħar sinjura, l-agħar x’ħin tara l-kilba għall-poter u d-dominju tal-assurd. L-assurd iqarrabna wisq mad-dinja ta’ Carroll u Vargas Llosa. Ħarġu l-iskieken, sinnewhom sew u d-demm iċċarċar fuq l-artal ta’ l-ugwaljanza.

Għax f’din il-gżira sinjura fekruna l-ilsna tal-bejjiegħa tal-ħolm jidilkuk bil-għasel tal-wegħda ta’ prosperita. Jgħannu l-għanja tal-ħelsien mill-jasar immaġinarju li għaġġnu f’moħħom biex bħal speċi jiġġustifikaw il-qagħda tagħom. Imma mill-kliem għall-fatti hemm baħar jaqsam. U x’baħar dak. Il-progress f’dan il-pajjiż ma jfissirx li tqiegħed lil kullħadd f’kundizzjoni li jtejjeb ruħu. Ma jfissirx meritokrazija. Il-progress għandu l-minġel f’idejħ u jekk int tajjeb iżżejjed, jekk b’ħilitek inqtajt mill-folla issibu jistennik – u b’daqqa waħda jaqtagħlek saqajk. Hekk… issa ġejt daqs ħaddieħor. U hekk kullħadd l-istess. Kullħadd kuntent. Progress achieved.

“Prosperity or egalitarianism — you have to choose. I favor freedom — you never achieve real equality anyway: you simply sacrifice prosperity for an illusion.” – Mario Vargas Llosa

Żgur sinjura fekruna li se tħalli ‘l uliedek hawn fostna? Iva ħallejna gwardjan magħhom lejl u nhar biex żgur ix-xorti xxaqleb favurihom. Bil-bouncer 24/7 fuq ramlet artna. Imma barra minn fuqhom li jikbru u jitgħallmu u jsiru intelliġenti. Barra minn fuqhom li b’ħilithom isibu xogħol imħallas tajjeb. Għax hemm isibuħ il-progress jistenna bil-minġel ileqq f’idu. Minġel ikreh li jixxejjer bid-dagħdiha tal-għira u l-inkapaċita tal-injurant. Jekk hemm bżonn nipprostitwixxu parlament sabiex nitkażaw jekk taqlax iktar mill-President . Hemm aħna sinjura fekruna… imbasta ħadnilek ħsiebhom sakemm nibtu… imma jżabbu jmorru aħjar minna.

Wara kollox x’iriduhom dal-flejjes kollha? Bil-flus tagħmel biss toroq fil-baħar, u x’iżżobb se nagħmlu bihom dat-toroq eh?

Aqdef ja bagħla aqdef.

 

Categories
Politics

Measuring the hypothetical

There is one area where Muscat’s Labour will definitely not go wrong  and that is recycling. Unfortunately the kind of recycling that we are talking about is less of the environmental kind and more of the Nikita Alamango pass-the-financial-times kind. The latest idea to be grafted off the international progressive menu is that of A Fair Society – a most noble and brill idea when in the right hands.

Take, for example, Andrew Sciberras’ blog post that lists what his idea of a Fair Society should entail (A Fair Society). It’s the kind of list that we could very easily back (bar my misgivings about taxing anybody’s well-earned income heavily – I’m not one who gets excited about taxing success to pay for failure). Yes, Andrew’s list merits much more than a fleeting discussion and the main reason is because it includes definite positions and proposals that you may agree with or agree to disagree with (and hopefully propose alternatives).

Not for Joseph’s progessives though to take a concrete position on any of the proposals – whether Andrew’s or let’s say Franco’s. Even less is it for Joseph’s progressives to come up with positions of their own that they could suggest as their bag of values for voters to decide upon. What we HAVE heard till now in terms of concrete proposals are the two general ideas about further education for plus sixteens and the package of suggestions for disabled persons and their entourage.

In both cases Joseph’s progressives have come up with suggestions that cannot really be translated into actual legal measures. At most you can call them “encouragements” that are similar to “tax breaks” in the commercial world. You cannot coerce parents of a disabled person to set up a trust fund. You can suggest it to them and create the mechanism. I will leave it to the better informed and specialised to comment on the pros and cons of a policy that claims to promote independent living for the disabled without actually being able to do much about it.

The same argument goes for the 16 pluses who opt out of the educational system. Mark Anthony Sammut has done a good job of deconstructing Joseph Muscat’s ideas about young people being in studying, training or employment (Joseph Muscat’s Job Guarantee). Much of what Muscat was “proposing” in this field already exists in the form of further education and training opportunities. Once again the “policy” idea turns out to be tanto fumo niente arrosto (as they say in the noble language of philosophy, politics and L’espresso magazine).

Which  brings me to the furore of the grand new scheme underlying “The Fair Society”. Joseph Muscat and his progressives have discovered “social impact assessments”. Here is how the Times reported it:

The Labour Party will be committing itself to undertake a social impact assessment every time a major economic policy is to be introduced, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this evening. Closing a policy seminar on social justice organised by the Labour Party with the theme A Fair Society, Dr Muscat said the assessment would be held to provide an overview of how the proposal would affect various sectors of society, especially vulnerable people.

Wow. Impressive. Now where have I heard that one before? Let me introduce you to a new friend: Mr. Regulatory Impact Analysis. I’ll ask Mr Wikipedia to introduce him better:

The role of an RIA is to provide a detailed and systematic appraisal of the potential impacts of a new regulation in order to assess whether the regulation is likely to achieve the desired objectives. The need for RIA arises from the fact that regulation commonly has numerous impacts and that these are often difficult to foresee without detailed study and consultation with affected parties. Economic approaches to the issue of regulation also emphasize the high risk that regulatory costs may exceed benefits. From this perspective, the central purpose of RIA is to ensure that regulation will be welfare-enhancing from the societal viewpoint – that is, that benefits will exceed costs. RIA is generally conducted in a comparative context, with different means of achieving the objective sought being analysed and the results compared.

Here’s another thing. RIA’s have been used in the European Union for the past decade having been introduced by the Commission in 2002. In 2005 and 2006 as you can read in the linked Wikipedia article – “the Commission updated its approach to include economic, social and environmental dimensions, thus moving in the direction of Sustainability Impact Assessment.” (See for more detail: Craig Robertson’s EIPA paper on RIA in Europe). The inter-institutional agreement strengthening impact assessment across the main institutions (including Parliament) was signed in 2006. Well, well… looks like somebody learnt a thing or two out of his stint sitting in the parliament of the European Union. Yep that same European Union that he advised everybody to vote against.

Now here’s the final point. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the introduction of a national system of impact assessments – whatever you choose to call them (social, regulatory, sustainability). It’s actually recommendable. It’s a lovely field of law and I know that a former colleague of mine at the Court of Justice – now a Jean Monnet Chair at HEC University in Paris – is specialised in the field. The thing about impact assessments is that they have to have policies and legal programmes to assess.

You see, Joseph Muscat was telling us that he has got nothing yet insofar as policy is concerned but WHEN HE DOES EVENTUALLY HAVE SOMETHING (and hopefully he will) he will measure it for its impact on society. He will see whether it is fair. We sincerely hope that the idea of a Social Impact Assessment will not be dropped but rather promoted. On the other hand this is no reason to bring out the trumpets and fanfares and finally announce that Labour has a policy to speak of.

Labour has simply told us that it has a new ruler/measure. And whether it opts to measure in inches or centimetres, the measure of its ruler would currently point to zero insofar as concrete policies and proposals are concerned.

Categories
Mediawatch Politics

Cheap noodles and les nouveaux pauvres

Marie Louise Coleiro Preca II is not the name of a boat. It is the name of MLCP’s second facebook page that was started after the first one was oversubscribed. Marie Louise Coleiro Preca II shared a post with Marie Louise Coleiro Preca about a meeting that was held at the PL club in Fgura where the subject seems to have been the “energy poor” and someone liked this post today so it came to my attention. These are not, as you might presume, people who are experiencing strong withdrawal symptoms from their last intake of Red Bull but rather a newly defined class of poverty that has been created by… you guessed it… GonziPN’s exorbitant energy bills.

A woman with respiratory problems, who had an electrically-operated oxygen tank at home, ate cheap noodles every day to be able to afford her utility bill, Labour health spokesman Marie Louise Coleiro Preca said yesterday. (…) “There are people who are energy poor. I spoke to a woman from Cospicua last week. She needs an oxygen tank at home to live. She just about passes the means test, so she’s not entitled to the energy benefit. She told me she can only afford to eat noodles,” Ms Coleiro Preca said.

There is something surreal about this kind of presentation. It probably has a lot to do with Labour’s generally bungled way of public relations and transmission of information. You cannot help but wonder how comfortable Joseph Muscat, Anglu Farrugia and the other geezer from the triumvirate of oxymoronic progressives can be with having their mugshot plastered on the walls of Kazini under the ubiquitous torch like some latter day Stalinist cult. There under the pictures of the future saviours of the nation sat the survivors of a not too distant socialist government plugging the narrative of the “new poor” – les nouveaux pauvres.

Marie Louise Colerio Preca II was armed with stories of the quasi-poor who “just about pass their means test” (the rare kind of test one would rather fail) and therefore cannot claim any energy benefits. So the nouveaux pauvres are condemned to eating “cheap noodles”. Do they even realise what it is they are writing? Stop for a second and think. “Cheap noodles”. As against bloody what? Gourmet noodles? And why noodles? Does noodles sound poorer than pasta asciutta?

Cue the erstwhile troubador of great socialist lore Joe Debono Grech who, once the list of nouveaux pauvres esquisses was done, ” called on his party to reach out to people by teaching people about the history of the party that worked so hard to fight poverty”.

There is something plastic about all this. Which is not to say by far that the tough economic times have not hit the people where it hurts. It is not to say either that the noodle woman shares the same problems as, say, Times columnist Kenneth Zammit Tabona who recently also complained about the exorbitant figures that turn up on his utilities bill. It’s just that Labour seems to be willing a fantasy land of misery – a potemkin village in reverse. There under the watchful eyes of The Three Leaders Who Will Guide Us In The Battle Against Poverty, the stakhanovist socialists of yesteryear spun the narrative of les nouveaux pauvres creating the new oppressed who will need a new socialist, progressive spirit to lead them out of damnation.

Fgura election prospective candidate Charles Agius joins in with enthusiasm:

(he) said that during home visits he met families who had their electricity supply suspended because they did not pay the bill. They took their children to their neighbour’s house to use the computer.

See the concept of the bare essentials? Under a previous patch of “utility poverty” (still living memory for many) you would have said that following the latest water and electricity cut parents took to filling buckets of water from the sea and kids went to bed early in the dark. Nowadays the nouveaux pauvres first thought is where to get access to the closest working PC. Plus ca change.

This is not a post that denies the existence of hard up situations in our midst. It is a post that looks at the instrumentalisation of what might be desperate cases in order  to spin an opportunistic narrative with no solution in sight. Labour is doing its damned best to redefine the goalposts by creating this new social strata which we can define as the nouveaux pauvres. Forget the middle classes or the pepe – hamalli divide. The pigeon-holeing is now strictly concerned with the reclassification of the grumbling masses into a reversed potemkin village of nouveaux pauvres. It suits the whole narrative well enough so long as the gullible and partisan are the ones being targeted.

Still. Cheap noodles?

Categories
Politics

Rush coming up

Jiġu mumenti fejn nipprova nimmaġina meta’ kien il-mument li waqafna nimxu u bdejna niġru. Niġru fis-sens li ma niefqux biex naħsbu u li inħallu il-mezzi ta’ komunikazzjoni jaħsbu minflokna. Filli konna hemm nifirħu bl-emanċipazzjoni tal-individwu u li issa kellu il-poter f’idejħ u filli kull ħajt virtwali u kull forum possibbli qed jintela’ bil-vomtu kwotidjan mingħajr ħafna ħsieb.

Fausto sejjħilhom graffitti. Sewwa qal. Anki jekk f’idejn esperti anki il-graffitti jafu jġiegħluk taħseb. Imma illum mhux graffiti biss għandna. Għandna il-kummenti, il-kontrokummenti, l-osservazzjonijiet mundani u personali. Għandna is-search engine u l-wikipedia. Għandna l-aħbarijiet “on tap” u l-“opinion polls” instantanji. U fil-baħar ta’ “data” l-individwu emanċipat safa dik il-gżira li John Donne qalilna li ħadd ma hu.

**

Iħħakkjaw il-kont elettroniku ta’ Bashar Al-Assad dittatur ġewwa s-Sirja. Skoprew li waqt li mijiet ta’ Sirjani kienu taħt attakk ġewwa Homs, id-dittatur u martu kienu qed jordnaw il-linef u d-DVD ta’ Harry Potter minn fuq x-xibka ta’ l-eteru. Jaħasra kemm miet kmieni Salvador Dali. Kienet tkun xena surrealissima li seta jiġbed ma Picasso. Biss biss Pablo kien ikollu jkabbar it-tila ta’ Guernica biex ma jpinġix biss il-bombi neżlin imma anki l-vann tad-DHL jew UPS qed iwassal il-linef fid-dar tad-dittatur.

U ta’ Harry Potter mhux tajba jew? Kemm hi belha din Asma (hekk jisimha martu l-Ingliża) kos. Tordnalek il-kopja legali tal-film ma jmurx tikser il-liġi u tidħol fuq xi Pirate Bay tniżżel it-torrent. Fejn taf, jekk jispiċċaw quddiem il-Qorti Kriminali Internazzjonali ikollhom akkuża inqas għal xiex iwieġbu il-koppja Al-Assad. Massakru ċivili – IVA, korruzzjoni u tkasbir tad-drittijiet – IVA, download illegali – LE ta… dak ordnajtu fuq PLAY.COM onorevoli… delivery b’xejn kieku kont fl-Ewropa.

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Irrekordjaw lil Julian Galea. Irrekordjaw lil Joanna Gonzi. Joanna ma ħarġitx għall-elezzjoni. Julian ma setgħax jirtira l-kandidatura. Ivvutawlu xorta. Imbagħad irriżenja. Għax ħass li aħjar. Ivvutawlu xorta. Dik l-iktar biċċa affaxxinanti. Kellhom kollox għad-disposizzjoni tagħhom. Il-massa tal-medja wasslitilhom kull bit u byte tar-recording. Ivvutawlu xorta.

Ħal-Qormi għandhom sindku ġdida. Naqra naive. Imsieħba f’sit ta’ “hostesses” taljani. Hostesses kienet saret kelma sinonima mal-Kavallier tal-Italja li ħadem tant għal ġieħ u unur in-nisa tal-Italja. Li ma nifhimx hu jekk dawn in-nies humiex konxji tal-konsegwenzi tal-preżenza tagħhom fuq ix-xibka virtwali. Fil-Festschrift Immanuel Mifsud tagħna stampa ċara ta’ dak li sejjaħ bħala il-konfessjonarju ta’ Foucault. F’J’accuse semmejna kemm il-darba kif kien hemm perijodu fejn il-blogs servew ta’ mera ħarxa li uriet il-kruhat tas-soċjeta tagħna. Ma konniex nafu jekk aħniex lesti għalihom dawn il-veritajiet.

Bħal Alice fil-pajjiż tal-meravilji sirna, diffiċli tifhem dak li hu veru u dak li hu virtwali. Forsi la nifhmu li dak li ilna insejħu virtwali huwa biss estensjoni tal-veru forsi hemmhekk biss nimxu l-quddiem.

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Cyrus Engerer il-politikant bla kostitwenti bena dar fuq Facebook. Mill-kampanja tad-divorzju il-quddiem bena persunaġġ virtwali. Cyrus il-laburist li qiegħed bilmod ilmod iżarma l-ewwel maskla reali li kien bena fil-bidu tal-karriera politiku tiegħu meta kien Cyrus in-Nazzjonalist li forsi (forsi) kien jirrekordja lil kollegi tiegħu meta’ jkunu f’xi dagħdigħa ta’ bejn il-ħbieb – just in case.

Franco Debono imur il-parlament bħala deputat nazzjonalista. Anki Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando. Imbagħad meta taqbżilhom u jridu jiftħu l-mitraljatriċi tal-kritika jidħlu fuq Facebook jagħmlu xi status update. “Does RCC have a blog?” kienet waħda mill-aħħar enigmi ta’ Franco. Sa fejn nafu aħna m’għandux blogg RCC. Konna nistednuh għall-bloggata guest – imqar għall-kurzita biex naraw x’ikollu xi jgħid.

Sadattant blogs oħra li nibtu waqt il-falsa stikka tal-elezzjoni li qatt ma kienet mietu fuq ommhom. L-azzopardinicky’s tal-mument kienu posposti għal mument opportun. Kien kmieni wisq biex iżżomm ritmu ta’ elezzjoni. Dan jafu Muscat li issa inbela f’nassa ta’ prattikament prim ministru kostanti sa mill-inqas is-sena d-dieħla.

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U Simon Busuttil li ma jridhiex tas-suċċessur predestinat qed jisħaq fuq komunikazzjoni. S’issa kull meta tniffes, tniffes biex jgħidilna li jew iridu jisimgħu iktar jew iridu jikkomunikaw aħjar dak li qed jagħmlu. Għax dak li qed jagħmlu huwa tajjeb.

Li għadna ma smajniex minn Simon Busuttil huwa jekk hux se jkollu messaġġ li jwassal, hux se jkollu kontenut ġdid, jew inkella aħniex se jkollna biss reċiklaġġ u stinar fuq messaġġi li ilhom li intilfu fil-kaos tal-eteru. X’se jisma’ Simon? Il-graffitti fuq il-ħitan?

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Ilna niġru. Bl-Ingliż ngħidu “to rush” u qlibniha tirraxxja. Bħal dak li bela’ l-ecstasy u ma baqax jagħmel sens. Għax il-moħħ jaħseb sew meta jirrifletti u mhux meta jispara bl-addoċċ. Il-moħħ huwa l-ewwel għodda. Id-dinja virtwali – dik l-estensjoni tad-dinja reali – għandha potenzjal qawwi. Enormi. Pero jekk naqbdu niġru biha ma ndumux ma nsibu l-ewwel ħajt u nibqgħu deħlin dritt ġo fih.

Categories
Mediawatch Politics

Franco Bonaparte?

Last time that I hinted at a link between Franco Debono and a historical figure I was told off in private by one of the blog’s more finicky readers. Well, mea culpa if Franco does not quite fit the “Generalissimo” label but the Rebel MP has now taken to quoting another general for his purposes. The Times asked for Debono’s comments in the light of this mornings Leadership Debate being hosted by that same paper and Franco was happy to oblige. The crucial statement is as apocryphal as modern day PLPN politicians can get – leaving as much leeway for interpretation as Saint John’s Apocalyptic scriptures:

The crisis will only be over when the oligarchy is dismantled, the elitist rule of ‘planet clique’ comes down to earth and democracy is strengthened. Even certain quarters of the business community have been complaining for some time about this clique mentality.

Whatever happened to the four riders of the apocalypse and how exactly will “planet clique” come down to earth? Is this a new religion? More specifically has Franco been reduced to speaking in riddles in order to be able to keep us hanging on to his every word? Joseph’s Labour still pin their hopes on stability but in truth they don’t care whether Franco goes this way or that. Joseph’s reading is clear: there is stability whatever the PM says (or does). Muscat has bought himself a joker by claiming that if Franco turns back to the fold of government (what Labour are calling a U-turn even though he never actually voted against government) he will have been “bought” so his opinion does not count.

The nationalist party is in denial too. It doesn’t care whichever way about this minor hiccup in Malta’s political history. It is buying its time till the leadership “election” to fill the vacancy that does not exist. That way we get to ignore Franco at least till the resounding “Gonzi, Gonzi, Gonzi” echoes in the halls of Dar Centrali once the result is out. Then Franco will be given the choice to either follow or get the fuck out. Simples. Next we will have the Local Council elections dragging on to Sliema’s 10th March date which will give us the opportunity to mentally masturbate about figures that have absolutely no bearing on a future national election result. As a a people we are amused and easily distracted by these controversies.

Back to Franco. He makes an interesting assertion in his Times interview.

Dr Debono, a prominent criminal lawyer who has been campaigning for Constitutional reforms, said that after the French revolution one of Napoleon’s greatest conquests was not military in nature. It was the establishment of meritocracy where careers were open to talent. It was the call to dismantle privileges enjoyed by the nobility and the oligarchy. Meritocracy was even more important in a small country like Malta, he said. These are the foundation of our European culture and identity.

I wish the Times would cut the crap of the “prominent criminal lawyer” bit. Franco has been practising criminal law as long as I have been practising European Law – and I’ve spent seven of those years at the European Court of Justice. Should that make me a prominent European lawyer? The only prominence Franco gets – irrespective of his qualities as a lawyer – is the limelight currently afforded to him by circumstance, failing that he’s about as prominent a criminal lawyer as any other recent graduate from the law course (yes… barely 12 years is recent).

Emperor Napoleon the Meritocratic

As for the reference to Napoleon’s meritocratic destruction of the nobility… really Franco? Your knowledge of history borders on the criminal. It took Napoleon Bonaparte a few years to decide that the Republic was not such a good idea after all and to Crown himself Emperor  (in May 1804 before a hapless Pope Pius VII). Oh he did get the senate to vote a law to that effect… it stated in a very PLPN style:

“The government of the Republic is vested in an Emperor, who takes the title of Emperor of the French.”

There you go. Napoleon then proceed to meritocratically install his family all across Europe in the main royal households. Here’s a wikipedia refresher point about the House of Napoleon:

Throughout its history, the dynasty, as well as being Emperors of the French, held various other titles and territories including; their ancestral nation theKingdom of Italy, Kingdom of Spain, Kingdom of Westphalia, Kingdom of Holland and the Kingdom of Naples. The dynasty was in a position of power for around a decade until the Napoleonic Wars began to take their toll. Making very powerful enemies such as Austria, United Kingdom, Russia andPrussia, as well as royalist (particularly Bourbon) restorational movements in France, Spain, the Two Sicilies and Sardinia, the dynasty eventually collapsed under its own weight.

Not looking so anti-clique now are they Franco? What can we say…

THE CLIQUE SHOULD DIE, LONG LIVE THE CLIQUE